mud_shark Posted January 22, 2021 Share Posted January 22, 2021 (edited) Seeking recommendations for an integrated amp to drive my Whatmough P25 speakers. Must have Bluetooth and 2 x Optical In. Budget: $2k (ish) Upgrading from Onkyo A-9030 Edited January 22, 2021 by mud_shark missing detail Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boxa Posted January 27, 2021 Share Posted January 27, 2021 Yamaha comes to mind, although (a) sound quality might not meet expectations as they look to be sub $1,500 and (b) you'd have to check as some don't have dual optical inputs. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tasebass Posted January 27, 2021 Share Posted January 27, 2021 https://www.melbournehifi.com.au/products/rotel-ra-1572?variant=13129253650483¤cy=AUD&utm_medium=product_sync&utm_source=google&utm_content=sag_organic&utm_campaign=sag_organic&utm_campaign=gs-2020-03-13&utm_source=google&utm_medium=smart_campaign&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI9tWtqru77gIVx2kqCh0IYAT-EAQYBCABEgJRxfD_BwE 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mat-with-one-t Posted January 27, 2021 Share Posted January 27, 2021 A mate runs his Whatmoughs with one of the integrateds from Redgum. Pretty magic! Keep an eye out for a used one maybe? https://darko.audio/2012/01/redgum-rgi120enr-integrated-amplifier/ 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PKay Posted January 27, 2021 Share Posted January 27, 2021 If you could stretch your budget this naim amp would be great. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mud_shark Posted January 29, 2021 Author Share Posted January 29, 2021 On 27/01/2021 at 5:17 PM, Tasebass said: https://www.melbournehifi.com.au/products/rotel-ra-1572? Yes, have seen these around. Look good Pardon the seemingly obvious question... In the picture in my original post, you can see that the recommended amplifier for these speakers is 40-100 watts. So if I were to get an amp with more than 100 watts, I'd blow the speakers? How close to the upper limit can you safely go? (I'm not looking for super wattage, more curious than anything else) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cafe67 Posted January 29, 2021 Share Posted January 29, 2021 2 hours ago, mud_shark said: Yes, have seen these around. Look good Pardon the seemingly obvious question... In the picture in my original post, you can see that the recommended amplifier for these speakers is 40-100 watts. So if I were to get an amp with more than 100 watts, I'd blow the speakers? How close to the upper limit can you safely go? (I'm not looking for super wattage, more curious than anything else) You will likely to blow your speakers with a underpowered amp being over driven then using a higher power amp, with the high powered amp you’ll be able to turn the volume to happy loud level without over driving the amp or the speakers. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tasebass Posted January 29, 2021 Share Posted January 29, 2021 8 hours ago, mud_shark said: Yes, have seen these around. Look good Pardon the seemingly obvious question... In the picture in my original post, you can see that the recommended amplifier for these speakers is 40-100 watts. So if I were to get an amp with more than 100 watts, I'd blow the speakers? How close to the upper limit can you safely go? (I'm not looking for super wattage, more curious than anything else) ^^^^^^^^^...what cafe said... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woogie59 Posted January 29, 2021 Share Posted January 29, 2021 Weston Acoustics Tempest. New price from $2,750. I use one with KT150 tubes with a pair of Whatmough 303's, superb. Earle can take some time to build(mine took over 6 months) due to demand/he is a sole trader. Correspondence is not his strong suit but the amps are beautifully built and well worth the wait. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mud_shark Posted January 30, 2021 Author Share Posted January 30, 2021 If it helps provide any additional context, attached is a diagram of my current setup for reference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Volunteer sir sanders zingmore Posted January 30, 2021 Volunteer Share Posted January 30, 2021 Your setup looks pretty standard - so I’m not sure why you must have Bluetooth and optical in to your amp, they all seem to be handled upstream already. You’ll be limiting your amp choices if that’s a hard requirement. Also, as others have stated, more power actually lowers the risk of damaging your speakers. I owned whatmough speakers years ago. Colin favoured valve amps but I preferred mine with a beefy solid state amp. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mud_shark Posted January 30, 2021 Author Share Posted January 30, 2021 10 minutes ago, sir sanders zingmore said: Your setup looks pretty standard - so I’m not sure why you must have Bluetooth and optical in to your amp, they all seem to be handled upstream already. You’ll be limiting your amp choices if that’s a hard requirement. I suppose the "need" for Bluetooth and Optical in the amp was perhaps from earlier on where I was thinking to have more an all-in-one solution which would allow me to eliminate the external DAC. My thinking (and budget) has evolved somewhat over the past couple of weeks, thanks to the input from various folk here on the forum. I'm still not decided on the final solution. It could well be New Integrated amp + streamer (Bluesound Node 2i) New integrated amp which has the BluOs built in (eg NAD) I've just started reading about pre/power amp setups, which definitely sounds interesting - but think that buying new might be out of my reach for now. I'm very open to buying a used amp - but would ideally like to audition a few to see what sounds best, and don't want to be hiking all over the place - and frankly my knowledge in this space simply isn't there yet. Hence I figured a visit to a store to demo/buy would be a more practical option. Right? 13 minutes ago, sir sanders zingmore said: Also, as others have stated, more power actually lowers the risk of damaging your speakers. OK, I get this now. So when my speakers state an amp range of 40-100 watts, is that like a minimum as opposed to a maximum? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Volunteer sir sanders zingmore Posted January 30, 2021 Volunteer Share Posted January 30, 2021 57 minutes ago, mud_shark said: Hence I figured a visit to a store to demo/buy would be a more practical option perhaps drop in to the Audio Experts https://theaudioexperts.com.au They are the old Whatmough Audio and you will almost certainly be able to listen to a few amps on your exact speakers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mud_shark Posted January 30, 2021 Author Share Posted January 30, 2021 5 minutes ago, sir sanders zingmore said: perhaps drop in to the Audio Experts https://theaudioexperts.com.au That is very much the plan! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emesbee Posted January 30, 2021 Share Posted January 30, 2021 1 hour ago, mud_shark said: OK, I get this now. So when my speakers state an amp range of 40-100 watts, is that like a minimum as opposed to a maximum? Its really more of a general guideline. What you really want to avoid is the amp clipping the signal, which is what can cause speaker damage. An amp with a higher power rating is less likely to run into clipping, as it has more reserve capacity. A rather crude (non audio) analogy might be to think of towing a heavy trailer. You might be able to do it with a small 4 cylinder car, but you will probably put a fair bit of strain on the engine and other components. A vehicle with a larger engine will have more reserve capacity to handle a heavier load, so will do the job much more easily. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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